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Running back Beanie Wells sat out practice again Thursday. Coach Ken Whisenhunt said he’s comfortable with a Tim Hightower-LaRod Stephens-Howling- Jason Wright combo in St. Louis, and more importantly, he doesn’t want to rush Wells and his bruised knee. “We will see,” Whisenhunt said, adding, “it wouldn’t be a stretch to bring Beanie to the game knowing you can use him and if you don’t, you still have three other guys.”

“What concerns me, I don’t want this to be something in Week 12, Week 13 or Week 14 that you are having issues with,” Whisenhunt said. “If we feel Beanie has made enough progress by Sunday, he will play. If we don’t, like I said, I feel strongly about who we have at the position.”

— Linebacker Joey Porter was back at work after resting his back some. Wright looks better walking around on his sore toe too. Here is the full injury report.

— Whisenhunt said he hasn’t decided on a punt returner yet. It’ll probably be a rookie, Max Komar or Andre Roberts, I would guess.

— Whiz mentioned he doesn’t want to put too much into the game plan in the first game. That got him in trouble in his first game as head coach, in 2007 at San Francisco, and he has vowed not to let it happen again.

Did LSH get any meaningful carries last year? Outside of — I think it was — the Green Bay regular season game, I don’t recall him in the backfield. If he or Wright do get some snaps, how do they compare to Wells in picking up the blitz?

A little concerned about Whiz comment at the end of your blog. What did he show in San Francisco on that monday night that has him concerned? We came out flat / Leinart looked horrible and we still had a chance to win only to witness that crazy fumble and SF win….

Hey Darren–Nice Blogs!!–How do you think the defense
will play in St Louis????? I would like to see them get off to a good start in the opener. I would like
to see 17 or less points against this team. Would be a nice confidence booster for this unit especially going to Atlanta. Objective must be to contain the run
the 1st 2 weeks!! Also would like to see a big game from Paris Lenon against his old mates!!!Agree????

Darren, 1st time commentor. We love your blogs thank you for all the info. It truly makes us informed fans. We’re so glad the season is finally here and the Cardinals can once again prove themselves. Eventually, we’ll earn their respect! Thanks again.

This bothers me. I hope beanie gets well soon. The fact he is not playing makes me feel like the cards are gonna just win by 7 points instead of whipping the floor with them. Coaches statement makes me feel like they are raw offensively as a whole.

Great feature on Hightower. The guy has a great head on his shoulders. Best of luck to him this year. I hope he and Beanie both get their 1000 yards. Everyone seems to just dismiss Timmy because he isn’t as fast or flashy as the elite backs, but he is just a no nonsense leader that doesn’t everything well. I don’t think he will ever get the respect he deserves. But that is ok, he is exactly what the cards need.

I think Hightower is great but he is a back up nontheless. He runs hard but he looks for contact which is his style of running. He is a very good change up back and I give him credit for what he do for the team. On any other team in the league he would not be starting. Our run game will be criical this year and it will make or break our season….plain and simple as that.

People call Hightower a change-up back or a short-yardage back. I don’t get it. He’s not that fast or powerful. Beanie is a much better bet in short yardage. Hightower is a very good runner in traffic, has great timing & functional speed and as has been pointed out a lot, he blocks, catches and operates in the passing game very well. He is also durable and protects the ball. So these “types of things” (as Madden says) add up to a good starting/workhorse RB who can be replaced in certain situations. Why would they want to use such a versatile guy as a specialist?

I have been thinking if my comment (On any other team in the league he would not be starting) on Hightower was “overboard?” After your response I looked at some stats and starting running backs around the league and I believe that to be a true statment.

Now, I’m not going to use the game against the Rams to help me with this argument. The only team maybe he could start for in my opinion is the Colts but they have two good running back but they rather depend on Peyton’s arm. So if there are any suggestion I would love the hear them. I thought Cleveland initially but they have a better run game then we do. Maybe Seattle?

Bottom line is he is not the answer for us at running back. He can help us at this position with screen passes and blocking but we need a better polished runner. Coach Whisenhut should have made that decision coming into the season and it would have been one less unknown for a new struggling offense.